MSNBC ran a story last week that school districts in Kansas must now get parents' written permission before teaching their children sex education, as decided by the state Board of Education. Formerly most Kansas districts had an "opt-out" policy, enrolling students in sex ed unless a parent objected in writing. Arizona, Nevada and Utah also have such "opt-in" sex ed requirements.This move seems to counter a Kansas Senate-approved bill requiring all school districts to continue requiring sex education classes for students and prohibit them from going to abstinence-only courses. This bill is now before the House. I guess if the state's going to make mandatory sex ed, the Board of Education wants to cover their butts by making parents sign off.I applaud the Kansas Senate for their fore-thought and hope someone is tracking teen pregnancy and STD rates in the state should this bill become law. I'm certain a correlation will be found between requiring students get accurate sex info and education and declining pregnancy & infection rates. In a 1996 study, Kansas ranked 26th in the nation for teen birth rates, with 50 births per 1,000 females aged 15-19. Arizona and Nevada ranked 47th and 45th, with 74 and 70 teen births per 1,000 respectively.Boo and hiss to the Board of Education - especially the Board member hoping to restrict to abstinence-only sex education.